Its been awhile since I’ve done a blog post. The constant juggle that is my life makes it challenging to post regularly…..especially when 8 hours of sleep a night are top priority! As mother to a young child its been years since I’ve experienced the luxury that is a night’s sleep and now that it’s back in my life, well…..

Anyhow, feeling well-rested at the moment I thought I’d share what my latest personal endeavor is. Those that know me well know that I am on a journey of constant conscious evolvement. Meaning, I practice self-reflection regularly and as a result of that practice I decide how/in what ways I would like to grow next.

Those of you that follow my blog might remember that last year I dubbed it my “year of yes”. My commitment to that project/experiment brought miracles into my life over the past year. This year I’ve committed to another life-altering personal project. I’m calling it “firsts”. Just like with the “yes” project, where I sought to re-program automatic negative responses to life, My “firsts” project has a similar agenda. All those times I’ve thought that I wouldn’t be able to do something for whatever reason and therefore have never tried it…this year I’m just doing it. Who the hell am I to underestimate myself?? How dare I do that to myself! From the very small to the very big, I’m committed to a first time.

Some of those first tries might end up in failure and I’m ok with that. Although, so far anyway, I’ve been having a 100% success rate. To be fair though, Having said that, for me, this particular journey is not about succeeding or failing….it is about re-programming my thoughts and beliefs about myself and what I’m capable of creating. Now I’ve already had 47 years of doing some pretty amazing things that many people would never dream of doing lol. I’m talking about those things, very personal to just me, where I may have had some negative self-talk. Areas where MY personal growth is.

According to numerology 2017 is a year of new beginnings for all of us, collectively and personally. So the current energy felt extremely conducive to embark on such an adventure.

If there was ever a time to be open minded, it’s NOW. With the March equinox came our full entry into the energies of 2017, one of a fresh start. It should now be CRYSTAL CLEAR that old ways of doing things, ways that used to serve us once upon a time, are no longer serving…in fact those old ways are actually damaging us now so new ways MUST be implemented without delay if we are to move forward at all. The way we were able to thrive in our lives before is just not the way we are able to thrive now so the more open minded we are about….everything….saying goodbye to what we need to and saying hello to what we need to…..accepting all…..the easier it will be to transform our lives for the better. This is not a time to be stuck in some idea of how you think things should be because the way that wants to be now, a way that will surely serve both you individually and us as a whole, may not resemble that picture in our heads. There might be a lot to digest this year so anything you can do to support your physical digestive system at this time is highly recommended. It will make it that much easier to roll with the flow of life now.

I just recently did a complete lifestyle overhaul which included a huge change in the way I eat. The difference I feel is absolutely remarkable! And the changes I made….they were things that I never thought I’d be able to do, and yet, I’m doing them with great ease now. In other words, the change I feared a few months ago (because I intuitively knew months ago that I needed to adopt a whole different approach to food) is now completely effortless! I’m understanding that for me to continue eating the way I used to now would be so much harder, actually, and I wouldn’t feel as amazing as I do either.

Follow your own intuition and guidance about what is right for you now and I promise you won’t regret it. The time is now! By the end of the year many of us may find ourselves very different people leading very different lives to what we have been. Such exciting times! If you are reading this then that means you have chosen to be here at this special time on our planet. Enjoy the ride and be fearless!

Ah, CHANGE… that 6 letter word lol. And since 2017 is a year of new beginnings, it is important to fully embrace the many changes happening all around us and within us right now. Kicking, screaming and resisting right now is not recommended. If change is having its way with you just take a deep breath…..you got this. It’s a time of moving forward despite the discomfort you’re probably feeling. The good news is the discomfort you may be feeling is completely normal and in fact, a very positive sign! That’s right. That feeling of discomfort is the sign that you have reached the point of no return…you are that caterpillar who has been in a chrysalis and is now almost through to the other side, about to emerge liberated with a new freedom. You think that caterpillar is comfortable in there as he grows his wings? Hell no! So give yourself a pat on the back if you are feeling uncomfortable right now….well done, you are healing and transforming and it’s beautiful.

Embracing big change is a fine art, and requires a balance of emotions to be able to approach life with a certain neutrality that allows the blessings to magically appear. The perfect story to illustrate this is the story of The Farmer:

There once was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day, his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it it two other wild horses. “Such good luck!” the neighbors exclaimed. “Maybe,” replied the farmer.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown off, and broke his leg. Again, the neighbors came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Such bad luck,” they said. “Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after that, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army to fight in a war. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. “Such good luck!” cried the neighbors. “Maybe,” said the farmer.

Moral of the story: Accept and embrace it all, good bad, beautiful, ugly. When we are able to recognize the blessing in a situation, every situation, we can in fact accelerate all of the good that is wanting to come to us. Besides, resistance takes a lot more work!!Here is a little secret: Acceptance allows that which you wish to change to do so. In other words, by embracing what IS, completely and unconditionally, you give permission for what IS to shift.

“Whatever our soul calls forth in our life is always exactly what we need at exactly the right time. However, blessings come in a variety of forms. many of these forms do not resemble blessings at all……….no matter what it is or in what form it comes, if we have the courage to welcome and embrace it wholeheartedly, we can feel and know our intimate connection with All That Is.”

Ok, dear people, here I go stirring the pot again offering another perspective on things. Since I left my career in journalism 17 years ago I have decidedly stayed out of politics but what is happening in our world right now, and very specifically in my country of birth, has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the human journey and the important crossroads we are at as a species and a planet.

I admit that I have been a non-participating observer through the whole U.S. election. Because I was unable in good conscience to get behind either candidate, I chose not to vote. Personally, I felt my 5 year old would have been a better option for president than the 2 on offer. So, instead, while living happily on the other side of the planet, I have watched the unfolding of the U.S. election much like a movie. Honestly, if Hollywood had made a movie out of this election cycle (and no doubt they will in the near future) there is no way it could have been as entertaining as the real thing. It’s been part comedy, part horror movie, part bad reality tv. And then this past Wednesday the lights came on in the cinema and most of us soiled our underpants just a little bit.

Now most people are aware that the U.S. president is really just a figure head, a symbol,anddoesn’t actually have as much power as one might think. And perhaps that is at the heart of why so so many are shocked, depressed and feeling hopeless about the outcome. It’s the symbolism of it. It’s the fact that Donald Trump is now reflecting ourselves back to us in the mirror and we are understandably horrified at what we see. “Is THAT what I really look like?! Shit!!”

Half of America and quite a lot of the rest of the world feels that a huge (yuuge) step backwards has been taken when, really, we were all ready for a huge step forward instead. Right? Right…well, here is the thing….Hilary Clinton would not have been that step forward. She appeared to be a symbol for moving forward, just by virtue of being a female, however appearances are just that….appearances. As much as I’d like..love, actually, to see a woman as president someday, she, quite ironically, was a choice for remaining in old energy. And, collectively, humanity has chosen to take that next step in our evolution…collectively we HAVE chosen to go to our next level of being, realising at a soul level that none of our old baggage can be brought with us. And so we entered a challenging but necessary phase of shedding the old. This is where we are now. And collectively, we currently have one foot in each – one in the old, one in the new – which is why things feel so crazy. We are fulfilling the prerequisites required to finally “graduate” to the shiny new paradigm we are so ready for – one where our wounds are healed, our traumas are completely forgiven and we feel the deep connection we have to one another and All That Is.

Believe it or not folks, Mr. Orange seems to be, in fact, the catalyst needed to bring about forgiveness…therefore assisting us, in his own unique misogynistic way, in our frequency shift. Not in the way that a great leader like Nelson Mandela assists in a shift of consciousness, no, no…but in a way that apparently needs to happen for the highest good of all, at this moment in time. Sometimes turning points are disguised as a narcissistic man-child.

He is the symbol of ego/personality, our shadow side. Humanity has been shifting it’s way of operating from an ego based one to a soul based one. The way to light is through the shadow. While some of us have already shifted to a soul based modus operandi, others are still working on it. Now they have been given permission to work out their woundings and traumas openly. Not a pretty sight, I know…and yet it is still better that shit comes out rather than continuing to secretly fester inside for years to come, holding us back from evolving as a species.

I know what you’re thinking….I know, I KNOW, that was my initial reaction too, believe me. Almost the minute Trump was declared winner a heaviness covered the earth like a blanket….the weight of all the emotions floating around in the air, everywhere. He isn’t even president yet and racism, bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, conflict and hate crimes are being openly played out in America now. You may blame Trump for this but the truth is…no one can make you feel something that isn’t already lying dormant inside you already. All he is doing, as any good catalyst does, is assisting to bring that shit up to the surface from its state of suppression so that it may be expressed and therefore ultimately released and cleared.

Yes, America may plummet into some real darkness for awhile, clearing suppressed trauma is no easy task and I acknowledge that it can really suck. And though this may be easy for me to say while sitting so far away, I do see a tremendous opportunity for light to emerge now. This is not just for America but for the whole world. Please, world….. people of light, grab this opportunity. That horrifying reflection in the mirror, let it motivate. Hopefully we don’t see a crappy reflection and think “Oh, well, I’ll just sit here and wallow in my crappiness”…hopefully we see it, seek to understand it, have compassion towards it, accept it for what it is and then stand up and say “Ok! I’d better first deal with my own inner world, so that my light can shine brighter than ever in the outer world and I can change the reflection coming back.”

“ ‘We don’t usually see things as they really are’, she thought. ‘We see things as we are.’ As she recalled the Law of Creation, which states that everything is within us, Ananya was getting a deeper understanding of what that really meant. ‘Nothing exists outside of ourselves, not even things that we consider to be external, she concluded………’We make all sorts of judgements and assumptions based on what we see. We call a beggar a victim, for example, but we are only seeing one tiny little scene in that soul’s whole movie. If you see only one scene of a movie, have you fully understood what the entire movie is about? One lifetime is like one little scene in a soul’s entire movie. Every soul incarnates with intentions about how they wish to play out this particular scene. So how can we even begin to comprehend what another soul has deemed appropriate for its own evolution in a particular lifetime?

This world we live in contains a thread of appearance and a thread of significance, The thread of appearance covers the thread of significance so it is not always easy to see. The way to understand an event, a situation, a person or a flower for what it truly is – for its wholeness – is to make a commitment to go beyond the appearances of what seems to be. Appearances are but mere starting points to understanding. To stop there is to leave the understanding incomplete.”

-pgs 37-40, Chapter on Law of Completion, The Freedom of Innocence A journey into the heart of All That Is by Lara A. Shah

Go beyond the appearances and perhaps you’ll realise that a great opportunity for empowerment has just been handed to us. It’s what we do with that opportunity that matters…how are you going to respond?

“Every next level of your life will demand a different version of you”

Everyone that has come to see me as of late – and I do mean everyone – is in a process of transmuting to the next iteration of themselves. It’s an amazing thing to witness…like watching a butterfly break out of its chrysalis. It’s an even more amazing thing to experience….like the caterpillar who literally turns into “goo” beforereassembling as that butterfly – not always so comfortable, that is for sure, but magical nonetheless.

So what is on the other side of all this? An ENTIRELY different way of operating. Some people call it “Ascension”, I’m choosing to refer to this change of modus operandi as the next level.

In our more recent planetary history, we as a species have been operating primarily from personality/ego. It’s been a fun exploration (sometimes) but that’s all changing now as we “graduate” to operating primarily from the purity of our soul.

While personality/ego has been exploring the surface level of our existence – appearances, separation and conditional experience….. operating from soul is a deeper, interconnected and unconditional way of being.

When soul takes over the steering wheel we essentially align ourselves with the destiny of the planet….meaning, when we are operating from soul we are aligning ourselves with the highest good of ALL….not just the highest good of “me”. Our attitude and way of operating shifts from “I, me, mine” to “Us, we, ours”.

One reason this shift could meet some resistance is when personality/ego fears its own wants/needs/desires will get ignored as a result of focusing on the ALL. Oh dear personality/ego, how funny you are! Funny because what is highest good for All That Is is also highest good for you….you are a part of All That Is.

Simply put, the next level is all about operating from the purity of who we truly BE

“You have not incarnated on earth as a human doing but as a human being, therefore you are essentially here on earth to explore and experience that BEING-ness. It is important to understand that one’s personality….is not who one BE. Dis-ease occurs when people attach to or identify with their personality rather than just experience it for what it is.”

“Personality repeats while BEing creates”

– The Freedom of Innocence A journey into the heart of All That Is, chapter on The Law of Creation, pg 16, 20

A COLLABORATION between soul and personality is what is recommended for a smooth transition to the next level. And operating from the purity of soul….from BEING-ness allows us to have an entirely different experience of The Law of Creation.

“The Law of Creation is the first Divine Law of Healing…….it is one of the primary laws. The Law of Creation states that everything lies within you. All of creation lies within you. Creative power is one’s own. This means that you are indeed creating yourself, Creating who you wish to BE, all the time. Remember , just because one has not discovered one’s creative power yet, does not deny its existence”

– The Freedom of Innocence A journey into the heart of All That Is, chapter on The Law of Creation, pg 21 ,22

So the world appears to be going quite insane right now. Lots of violence currently being explored.

The Law of Completion advises us to always go past the appearance till you get to the significance.

“This world we live in contains a thread of appearance and a thread of significance. The thread of appearance covers the thread of significance , so it is not always easy to see. The way to understand an event , situation, person….for what it truly is – for its wholeness – is to make a commitment to go beyond the appearances of what seems to be. Appearances are but mere starting points to understanding. To stop there is to leave understanding incomplete.”

– The Freedom of Innocence A journey into the heart of All That Is, chapter on The Law of Completion, pg 39

I invite you to play around with this Law in your own way, to go through the surface of what appears to be into the depths of what is actually at work in your own lives.

As I equip myself with this Law and allow the significance of the current state of affairs in the world to emerge into my knowing…..it is all crystal clear. All That Is is calling humanity to return to the way of the heart. Why return?

“Universal love is a completely unconditional love. This Law (The Law of Love) states that it is this love, this absolutely unconditional love, which is the true essence of every single living creature in your world”

–The Freedom of Innocence, chapter on The Law of Love, pg 26

If Love is who we be at our very core than it becomes clear that we humans, as a species, have forgotten who we are in the process of exploring who we aren’t. It’s all good, I mean we were meant to go through that process of exploration, I believe, but now its time to go home. Time to return to ourselves, our true selves.

As far as I have observed, there has been an absolute outpouring of compassion following recent tragedies. The number one word I read on social media was “heartbroken”. Indeed. It is heart-breaking….and what would be the significance of humanity feeling a collective heartbreak?

The feeling of heartbreak acts as a catalyst to break down the walls we have conveniently built around our hearts in the name of self-preservation. It’s ok, the walls had a purpose in our process of exploration but….now they don’t. They no longer serve because while those walls may have protected, they also prevented. Prevented us from allowing our true essence to flow, which prevents us from being able to experience the utterly profound interconnectivity of All That Is.

It is my intention, for the highest good of all, that we may all, as a species, be brave enough to ALLOW our trueness to flow. May we no longer be afraid of our immense capacity to love and be love. So be it and so it is.

So while we have the appearance of complete chaos, through shared heartbreak we have the significance of a Return to the Way of the Heart. As more and more individual walls break, the more and more the collective walls break….the more humanity comes back home to itself.

During transitions we experience both the old energy which has been and is on its way out, as well as the new energy which is coming in.

We, as a planet, as a society and as individuals, are in a massive transition right now. One big reason the world is generally crazy at the moment…two things, two energies are present simultaneously as we clear and release the past AND move forward into our future at the same time. Let me give you one example. This concept is currently being played out brilliantly in the 3 ring circus that is the U.S. Elections. You have a character that represents the past that needs to be cleared and released (a past of bigotry, division and separation) – Trump. You have a character that represents a new future (a future of acceptance, allowance and connection) – Bernie. Hillary of course has her own interesting role in this show too – I personally throw her in with Trump – though in a very different way – representing a very important aspect of the shadow energy we are releasing and also integrating. Integrate being a significant word here because releasing one’s past is not about getting rid of, throwing away or denying in any way shape or form. It is about respecting yourself and your experiences and understanding that the past is what has made you who you are today. Give thanks for it. It is this acknowledgement, respect, acceptance and gratitude which IS the act of clearing. That is how one releases one’s past. That is how a society releases its past.

Now here’s the thing. When that new energy comes in and we can feel it and taste it (and boy does it feel and taste good!) we just want to go there and go there now. This is quite natural. HOWEVER, and yes there is quite a big however….before one can go marching through that shiny new door, the old one must be closed properly and once and for all, with understanding and acceptance. In order for the past to be cleared and released we often need to relive it in some form, in order for the feelings associated with it to be felt again. It is that act of feeling those (often ugly and unpleasant) feelings again fully that then allows the release and clearing to occur. In the case of the U.S. society, Trump is certainly triggering a lot of ugliness (aka the shadow side of society)…..ugliness that was there, suppressed, that clearly needs to be released in order to make way for the new, which is currently birthing. From this perspective, watching what is happening in the U.S. right now actually makes perfect sense to me. This perspective can be applied to many a current situation…and in so doing it hopefully can lift us out of a despair that “nothing seems to be changing”, when in fact everything is changing.

Are you experiencing the old and the new simultaneously in your individual life right now? I know I am. Though it feels a bit of a juggle, it is also presenting very valuable opportunities. For myself, I am aware that I’m having the opportunity to review all the lessons that the old energies/my past brought me while I calibrate to a whole new level of myself and new chapter in my life’s journey.

It’s that incredibly fertile space in between!

“Nothingness is the seed of all potentiality”– The Freedom of Innocence A journey into the heart of All That Is, chapter on Law 12, The Infinite Wave, pg. 110

If there was ever time when opportunities to create abound, it’s now. Let’s make the most of it.

There are a few places in the world where conventional medicine and “alternative” medicine are allowed to work together in beautiful harmony. I was incredibly lucky to have experienced this first hand when I worked together with a conventional MD in a medical clinic in South America. My approach to dis-ease was not only embraced, it was invited in….and our patients were the beneficiaries of such an understanding.

Not everyplace holds such a view of what’s possible in the realm of health, however. There are still many places in the world where the 2 different approaches are kept as separate as night and day and “alternative” medicine and its practitioners are met with suspicion. I don’t deny that some of those suspicions are based in experiences with “charlatans” or people that were a bit less than genuine in their offerings. Let’s face it, there are some ingenuous people in the world, in different professions, so such doubts are not completely unfounded.

I remain hopeful that one day the human race will wake up to the fact that everything is connected in such a profound way and that nothing is ever separate, despite the appearance of separateness. In the meantime, I thought I would provide a very brief “how-to” guide to discern if a healer, or any sort of practitioner, is genuine or not.

A true healer will never claim to be able to heal you. A true healer will merely be very good at triggering another person’s innate ability to heal themselves. The body has infinite wisdom. The body knows how to heal itself. Sometimes it’s just a matter of accessing that wisdom within….enter a true healer who is able to, by virtue of who they are, catalyze that connection to happen. Magic.

If a healer tells you that they can “fix” you, I would recommend going elsewhere. Their claims are ego-driven and ego has no place in healing, trust me.

By the same token, if you seek out someone hoping that they will “fix” you, I recommend you first do a bit of self-analysis and explore your willingness to take full responsibility for your own state of being.

Once we are willing to be sovereign and self-responsible, then a connection with a true healer can trigger the wisdom and self-healing abilities within.

Just like everybody else has been doing at varying degrees and levels, I have been transforming and transmuting myself….ah, the never ending journey…and what a wild ride it has been and continues to be. There came a point in this journey of evolvement when I knew it was time to re-program the “no” mind to a “yes” mind.

You see I was programmed, as many of us were, to say “no” to life…I’m not blaming anyone or anything for this, it’s what happened. It’s funny that it did since I consider myself to be one of the most adaptable people you’d ever meet. Growing up I needed to adapt to all sorts, so I did. Perhaps the “no” attitude was a way to make me feel like I had some sense of control over my life. Ha Ha Ha! I can be quite silly like that sometimes.

Responding with a “I can’t”, “I’m too busy”, “I don’t know how”, “I don’t have time”, “I don’t want to go” or even “I have other plans” are all examples of how we might say “no”. As captain of our own ships it is up to us to decide if that is working for us…or not. Although it may have made me feel in control, I have been aware of it not working for me. Despite that, it still took me a long time to get the courage to change it. And now, after a bit of a journey to get here, I finally arrived at that place….only to find that I have embarked on a whole other journey altogether…the fun just never stops.

So I arrived at a place where I felt that I was finally ready to trust again….to trust life and more importantly, trust myself, enough that I am now willing to open up and greet all that comes into my field with a resounding “yes”. So in the spirit of experiment and exploration I decided early in the year to make this my personal “Year of Yes”, where I would remain AWARE of my automatic “no” reaction and consciously work to choose “yes” instead, every single time. At the time I never imagined just how much hard work it would be.

I will openly admit that I am still in the “training wheels” portion of this experiment. My initial reaction to things is still sometimes “no”…the difference now is that, because of the commitment I’ve made, I allow myself ample time to respond to things. Giving myself the gift of time is allowing me to observe and acknowledge the knee-jerk “no” reaction….but then thinking about how it would be possible for me to say “yes”. What do I need to do or how do I need to adjust myself in order to shift to “yes”. That exercise is stretching my flexibility (or lack of flexibility) and forcing me to look at options. And doing THAT is both exposing as well as breaking down any rigidness and limitation I’ve imposed on myself and is resulting in an expansion of my being. Amazing!

When working with this concept we are working with Healing Law #10, The Law of Welcome, as written in my book The Freedom of Innocence. The Law of Welcome is the bridge to fully understand The Universal Law of Release. When we welcome all of life with open arms we release our self-imposed limitations…this then opens the door to Universal Law #11, The Law of Connection.

Are you aware of how you might be limiting yourself and your life experience? I’d love to hear from you via my Contact page (Link to that page is in the upper right hand corner of this page) if you have any thoughts about this. As for me, I promise to update you all on the progress of my experiment throughout the year.